Brothers jailed for £200,000 blackmail plot

Two brothers have been jailed for more than 15 years over a £200,000 blackmail plot, involving the attempted kidnap of a personal trainer from a Birmingham street.

Andrew Flint, 46, and Paul Wiggins, 45, were arrested after eight men, some masked, cornered the victim in Dolman Road, Aston, after blocking in his car with a van and hired people carrier.

Two guns were pulled and the terrified trainer, 36, was ordered into a vehicle by the gang, with some claiming they were police officers – while another shouted: ‘’Shoot him!’’

But the victim fled by running into a stranger’s house in the terraced street and police were called.

Over the next few hours the trainer’s family received threatening blackmail calls from the gang, demanding up to £200,000 they claimed he owed them.

In one chilling message to his brother-in-law, thugs warned him to get the victim to the phone or ‘‘you and your wife and kids are dead.’’

But police had already moved the trainer and his family to safe locations and a huge manhunt for the gang was launched.

Eventually Flint, from Rubery, Sollihull, and Wiggins, from Merseyside, were traced by detectives who discovered the vehicle hire agreement included Wiggins’ telephone number – later used to make some of the threatening phone calls.

Wiggins was jailed for 12 years yesterday after being found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to blackmail, following a two week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

Gas fitter Flint was convicted of conspiracy to blackmail and was sentenced to three years and ten months. He was cleared of conspiracy to kidnap.

The terrifying drama began at 2.30pm on Friday December 7 last year when a Hyundai people carrier swept into Dolman Road and a gun was pulled on the victim, as he sat in his car.

Detective Constable Peter Gee, from Force CID, was investigating officer on the case.

Speaking after the brothers were jailed, he said: ‘’The victim said he saw a man holding a gun. He threatened him and told him to get in their vehicle. There were a number of other men in that vehicle and the victim jumped out of his car trying to get away.

“At that point a white Transit van pulled into the other end of Dolman Road, effectively blocking the road and two men got out of that van. One of them was armed with a gun as well.

“They tried to tell the victim they were police officers and that he was to get in the van.’’

The victim ran and forced the front door of a nearby stranger’s house and he and another witness rang police.

Armed police quickly arrived but the gang had sped away.

But, crucially, the registration number of the hired people carrier had been taken down by the sharp-eyed witness.

It was during the next few hours that repeated threatening calls and texts were made to the victim’s brother-in-law.

Det Con Gee said: ‘’He started to receive phone calls making threats, demanding money, saying that if he didn’t get his brother-in-law to contact these people and give money ranging from £60,000 to £200,000 then his family would be shot.

“There were text messages and around eight to 12 calls throughout the afternoon and they carried on until about 6pm in the evening.

“The most threatening text message was along the lines of, ‘If you don’t come up with this money we know where your family live and they’ll be shot.’

“This was a live blackmail situation.

“Safeguarding measures around his family were quickly put in place. The situation naturally caused a lot of upset for their wives and children, who were confused and scared.

‘’Obviously while some officers were doing that, detectives were also proactively hunting for the people who did this.’’

Detectives from West Midlands Police traced the hire vehicle to a car rental business in Birkenhead and discovered Wiggins had rented it. He had left a mobile number on hire papers, a phone later used to send some of the blackmail threats.

Det Con Gee said: ‘’The rental was all done with his own details, so we quickly knew that he may be involved.’’

Both the hire vehicle and Transit had also been picked up by various CCTV cameras in Birmingham near the time of the attack – and the van was traced to Flint.

The West Midlands police team and colleagues on Merseyside moved quickly.

Det Con Gee said: ‘’We arrested Andrew Flint on the morning of December 8, at 4.55am, the day after the offence.

“And at the same time a firearms warrant was executed by armed Merseyside Police officers looking for Mr Wiggins at his home address. He wasn’t there. He ended up going on the run.’’

Wiggins was arrested the following month at a friend’s flat in Maypole.

Dogged detective work led to yesterday’s convictions, despite the brothers insisting they were not involved – with Flint claiming he was just ‘an ordinary Birmingham man’ with a family and mortgage, who works hard.

The motive for the kidnap and blackmail plot remains unclear.

Det Con Gee said: ‘‘The victim says he does not know why he was targeted and we have no information as to why this took place.’’

Meanwhile, the hunt for the rest of the gang continues. Their identities are not known but some clues were found in confiscated phones, including the names ‘Beefy’ and ‘Irish Tony’.

Det Con Gee added: ‘‘I’d like to personally pay tribute to the victim, the families involved and witnesses in this case.

‘‘Thanks to the vigilance of the eyewitness, armed police were despatched to the scene immediately and it is thought the sound of their vehicle sirens may have helped bring to an end the initial confrontation in the street.’’

In passing sentence Judge James Burbidge QC, said the victim was targeted by “well organised” criminals but added: ‘‘It is quite possible it is a case of mistaken identity.’’

The judge said the attack had taken place in a residential area, with a local school nearby.

“These were desperate men pursuing criminal acts as it pleased them in broad daylight,’’ he said.

‘‘This was an audacious and ruthless criminal enterprise followed up by callous threats to a man who had nothing to do with the matter.”